ReName, ReBrand or ReSign?

It’s not Personal – It’s Business!

Nick Kellett

A special guest post on personal branding from the one and only Nick Kellet – with one t!  You can learn more about Nick at http://nickkellet.com/

Should you rename, rebrand, or are you ready to resign yourself to obscurity?

Personal branding is not at all personal. It’s big business. So why don’t we treat personal branding like companies or products? I did a little research naming babies. Here’s what I found. It seems Baby Naming Consulting is on the rise.

For me these posts are missing the point. Baby names aren’t just for birthdays, baby names are for life. Your name is your brand, but can you own it?

  • Do you own the dot com domain name and the twitter handle for your name?
  • Can it be said and repeated over the phone without confusion?
  • Is it memorable? Is it unique? I believe you can own a name space.

We can have a Personal Brand like Lady Gaga or Madonna. Many would view this kind of branding as extreme. Is it for all of us? Probably not, but why exclude the possibility?

Personal branding is on the rise, but are we all starting a little too late?

  • What is the lifetime opportunity cost of being lost or forgotten?
  • What is the price of not being memorable?

Your actions become your brand values. Having good “actions” are table-stakes, they are not your brand and they are not your differentiation. Acting well is what it takes to play the game of life. If we all have good actions, brand trumps action.

Brand is a differentiator. There is no escaping that reality. Personal branding is not a choice, it’s a necessity. Your brand is the hook on which we hang all your goodness. With no hook, there is no recall.

ReBrand

For simplicity, let’s imagine we are working on the personal branding for a guy John, John Smith to use his full name. Good luck! How many John Smiths are there? Too many to count.

For me John Smiths is a Beer, but then I’m a Brit! For me, John Smiths Beer owns the name space for John Smith.

Thinking about Business and Brands for a moment, would you call your product Pepsi22 or Nike_212?There’s two big reasons why the answer should be a very loud NO!

  1. You’d get sued by the men in dark suits working in Legal at Pepsi and Nike!
  2. You could never own the brand. The mind space for Pepsi or Nike are taken. The cost of displacement would be enormous.

The second reason is the one that matters. You’d be crazy to try. You could throw millions at the problem and never succeed.

So let’s return our focus to personal branding.

 Numbers in your names feels so MySpace! It’s not the number of namesakes that matters. There’s only one Pepsi and only one Nike. If you are going to brand something you want to own it (and the space around it).So many equivalent names should be a trigger to rebrand. One equivalent is too many. Why create yourself a branding problem? Zig when others zag!

  • So many equivalent names should be a trigger to rebrand. One equivalent is too many. Why create yourself a branding problem? Zig when others zag!
  • Branding is serious business. Getting into someone’s brain is a complex challenge, so why reduce the likelihood of mental recall with quirky spelling.
  • Don’t resort to a middle initial. Why does America, have a “middle initial” fixation? John JZ Smith the Third! Please, no! No JZ’s. Don’t make me remember an initial. Get out of the branding weeds. Pick a battle you can win! Is it Lady Gaga or Lady J Gaga? Dump the initial and the numerals! It’s Lady Gaga, not Lady Ga II! Leave Roman numerals to Popes, Kings and Queens.

I have a simple rule. Own your <name>.com and own you @<name> on Twitter and make them the same. While you are at it grab all you names on all the usual platforms – Facebook, Youtube etc.

  • It’s hard enough to comply with the rules for a company or product.
  • With people, because we share common names, it’s almost impossible.

I’d argue it’s pure mindset. Of course it’s possible. I’m lucky. I am the only Nick Kellet I’ve found.There’s a Nick Kellett, a jeweller in the UK (but’s he’s a Two T Kellett), I’ve met another Nick Kellett in Quebec.  I am Nick Kellet the brand.

How about you? Do you own your brand?  How are you feeling right now? Are you passing the test? Have you googled yourself and your brand lately? Are you listening into brand and product mentions? Owning a brand comes with some big responsibilities. Are you ready?

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